Society / Northeast

NEW DELHI, June 25 – A high level of alcohol abuse has been reported from the North-east, in addition to high opiate use, even as the population of drug users including alcohol users countrywide has touched 75 million, a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (NDOC) survey said.

First the good news, the menace of abuse like injecting drugs is not restricted to North-Eastern States although this is common perception but fairly widespread, the national survey ‘the Extent, Pattern and Trends of Drug Abuse in India’ said. The bad news is that besides reports of high drug use, a new phenomenon...

New Delhi, June 23: A campaign is under way to save the Northeast’s hoary past for the future. The National Mission for Manuscripts has launched a comprehensive search for priceless manuscripts containing little-known nuggets from the region’s history. These documents will be preserved for posterity in a scientific manner and made available to researchers.

Set up last year under the Union culture ministry, the mission intends to first preserve and then catalogue valuable historical documents that could be lying in temples, libraries and museums.

The importance of the project stems from the...

SHILLONG, JUNE 8 – Non-governmental agencies fighting against the malaise of trafficking of women and children have expressed grave concern that the evil is growing with increasing numbers women and children from Meghalaya and other north-eastern States being lured and deceived into the flesh trade in the metropolitan cities in the country. Voicing concerns, Praveen Patkar, India’s representative for ‘End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT), has called for concerted action by the State authorities, NGOs and the public at large to wage a...

SHILLONG, May 25 – Two Shillong girls have bagged the first couple of positions in the 'Miss North East' beauty pageant as Ilasara crowned the title, reports PTI. Anjalika was the first runner-up in the contest held at Kohima and hosted by the Beauty and Aesthetics Society of Nagaland (BASN).

Presenting themselves before the media here Monday, Ilasara said she wanted to finish her studies and “at the moment not concentrating as fashion as career.”

“Education is till important to me although I am the title holder,” said Ilasara, who received a purse of Rs 50,000 and a crown from former Miss...

Kohima, May 20: Enthusiastic youths thronged the local ground here, the venue of the Miss Northeast contest, till late last night, as three contestants each from the seven sister states fought for the coveted title. Former Miss India, Yukta Mookhey and choreographer Kelly Dorjee were the star attractions of the evening.

Ilasara D. Kharkongor of Meghalaya was crowned Miss North East 2004. The first runner-up title also went to Meghalaya as Angelica Pearl Nampui charmed the five judges, with Dorjee heading the panel.

Nagaland made it to the first three with Miss Nagaland Sentila Jamir being...

Kohima, May 17: Three storeys high and done up with cane and bamboo, the ramp on which the Miss North-East 2004 beauty contest will be staged here on Wednesday justifies the hype around the pageant. Fourteen aspiring models from six northeastern states will strut their stuff on the big stage, hoping to impress the judges and the two special guests, Miss World-turned-actress Yukta Mookhey and model-turned-choreographer Kelly Dorjee. Assamese actress Akashitora is another celebrity invitee.

The contestants include three each from Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya, two each from Mizoram and Assam...

DIMAPUR, MAY 17– Hectic preparations are on in full swing for the Miss Northeast 2004, which is to be held at Kohima on May 19 in commemoration of its 125th year celebration. The organisers of the beauty pageant, the Beauty & Aesthetic Society of Nagaland (BASN), has, in a release, announced that a number of prominent personalities and celebrities from not only the region but also from other parts of the country would be attending the pageant in different capacities.

Prominent among them is Miss World 1999 Yukta Mookhey who is scheduled to wow the crowd as a special guest. Yukta has walked...

GUWAHATI, April 11 – Traditional institutions in the North-East are surviving the onslaught of time and evolving into a major vehicle for building peace and development, reports PTI. Despite the impact of modernisation and technology, the communities in the North East have retained their old systems and institutions embracing both the old and new elements while at the same time co-existing and remaining functional, say experts.

“I have never seen such transformation of people in such a short time – from almost a Neolithic cultural setting propelling into the modern times without facing any...

GUWAHATI, Dec 4? Patients suffering from cancer in the North East will soon have expert help available at their very doorsteps. The North Eastern Council (NEC), headquartered in Shillong, has drawn up an ambitious project to link some 72 referral hospitals in the region with the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai. The dream tele-medicine project will become a reality by March next year. Speaking to The Assam Tribune here today, NEC Secretary PL Thanga said that Rs 39 crore has been earmarked for the project. ?The NEC will fund the project to link 72 units in all the States including Sikkim...

Shillong, June 11: The rescue of six teenaged girls taken from the Northeast to brothels in Mumbai has left police and monitoring agencies in the Northeast in a tizzy. The incident has taken place on the eve of an international meeting on anti-trafficking to be held in Shillong on Friday.

According to members of the state chapter of the Action against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children (Atsec), the girls were found in a ?notorious brothel? called ?Congress house?, situated on Grant Road in Mumbai, by members of the Mumbai International Justice Mission.

According to a report...